intermittent reverse and electrical faults.

Hello all,

i have read through a lot of posts but cant find anything like what we are seeing happen on our 2005 1.6 sensodrive that we bought about 3 months ago.

First problem was the keys kept not working and needed to follow the process to reassign (immobiliser worked fine)

over the last few days the car has stalled and thrown up the following faults in the dash:
abs faulty
airbag faulty
fan belt fault

and then yesterday gearbox fault.

When it was in reverse it wouldnt move and then suddenly jerked backwards.

I went out to help my partner and it worked first time with no problems so we drove it home. It was fine all the way and then the same fault when getting onto the drive.

Left overnight and its worked fine this morning.

Any ideas what would cause an intermittent electrical / gearbox fault or how to diagnose? it appears to be when its very hot but that could be a coincidence.

redz wrote:When it was in reverse it wouldnt move and then suddenly jerked backwards.

Hi redz, its a manual gearbox with solenoids to select gear and the clutch actuation. Mechanical faults like this I expect to be with the clutch actuator. They get stiff and give poor clutch operation.

redz wrote:First problem was the keys kept not working and needed to follow the process to reassign (immobiliser worked fine)

Faulty buttons can give problems for remote synchronisation.

redz wrote:over the last few days the car has stalled

Stalled? What was happening just before it stalled?

i wasnt in the car but i believe it was changing gear as it happened at an island and then wouldnt start.

it worked fine for me all day yesterday but this happened this morning when my partner drove to work and she's really worried to drive back this evening now.

cut out when slowing down the wouldnt start without jumping fwd.

i have been told that it could be transmission fluid levels?

how do i check this?

redz wrote:i have been told that it could be transmission fluid levels?

how do i check this?

You need to see if you actually have a sensodrive. Transmission fluid levels are for automatics.

redz wrote:cut out when slowing down the wouldnt start without jumping fwd.

These is probably an error code stored if its an engine fault, try reading with a cheap OBD reader from eBay to see what it stored and then take it from there.

so drive fine for a while today and then out the aircon on and almost immediately displayed gearbox fault. Turned off the engine waited about 2 minutes drove fine.

pulled into the carpark and to test it, put the aircon on again and again almost immediately gearbox fault. turned it iff waited a few minutes, drive home fine.

now the remote doesnt work!!

will the odd readers linked to display the faults?

I'm thinking its more likely to be an electrical fault due to the aircon cutting in. Battery is fine but haven't tested the alternator.

redz wrote:will the odd readers linked to display the faults?

No, you will need lexia reader set-up for anything other than engine codes, like air con and sensodrive gearbox.

redz wrote:Battery is fine but haven't tested the alternator.

If your alternator is bad, the battery won't be 'good' for long

does anybody near nottingham have one of these magic boxes or is it a trip to a very expensive auto diagnostics centre (aka take your money and run)

Had it diagnosed as the clutch actuator.

i 'think' it happens when the fan comes on as it appears with the following conditions:

A VERY hot day after a medium drive around town

an average day with a drive around town.

After a long drive, i.e. motorway then stop an left engine on.

Could this actually be an electrical fault i.e., would a new battery solve this?